Longview, the county seat of Gregg County, is about 125 miles east
of Dallas. Its current boundaries include three leagues of land granted
to Anglo-Americans late in 1835. There was no significant settlement
of the area, however, until the 1840s and 1850s. The town of Longview
itself was founded in the early 1870s, when the Southern Pacific Railroad
extended its track from Harrison County westward into Gregg County.
The railroad laid out a town on land purchased from Ossamus Hitch Methvin,
Sr. Railroad management called the new settlement Longview, reportedly
because of the impressive view from Methvin's house, which was on what
is now Center Street. Due to financial problems the Southern Pacific
delayed further track construction for two years, and Longview became
the western terminus of the railroad, and quickly developed as an important
regional trading center. A commercial district, composed of hastily
built wood-frame buildings, sprang up around the terminal. On May 17,
1871, Longview incorporated. In its first years Longview was a rough
railroad town; violence was common, and nearly half of the town's businesses
were said to have been saloons. The town's population grew steadily
during the last years of the 1800s. By 1910 it had reached 5,155. In
1966 a Schlitz brewery and an associated container factory were built
in Longview; the beer plant later became the Stroh Brewery, the largest
in Texas, producing 4 million barrels annually.